Psychotherapy, also called counseling, any form of treatment for psychological, emotional, or behaviour disorders in which a trained person establishes a relationship with one or several patients for the purpose of modifying or removing existing symptoms and promoting personality growth. Psychotropic medications may be used as adjuncts to treatment, but the healing influence in psychotherapy is produced primarily by the words and actions of the therapist and the patient’s responses to them, which in combination are meant to create a safe, intimate, and emotionally meaningful relationship for the open discussion and resolution of the patient’s concerns. Individual and group psychotherapeutic methods are used to treat many forms of psychological distress, in which the symptoms can be emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physical. These forms include behaviour disorders of children and adults; emotional reactions to the ordinary stresses, hardships, or crises of life; psychotic disorders (characterized by derangements of thinking and behaviour usually so severe as to require hospitalization); neurotic disorders such as anxiety and depression (chronic disorders of personal functioning often accompanied by bodily symptoms of emotional strain); addictions; psychosomatic disorders (in which physical symptoms are caused or aggravated by emotional components); and personality disorders (involving deeply ingrained maladaptive functioning). Psychotherapeutic principles are also emphasized in rehabilitation programs for mentally disabled and chronically ill individuals.

Early treatment of mental illness was based on either a religio-magical or a naturalistic view of disease. The former, originating before recorded history, saw certain forms of personal suffering or of alienation from one’s fellows as caused by an evil spirit that had gained entrance into the sufferer. Treatment was based on participation in suitable rites under the guidance of a priest-physician, medicine man, or shaman (seeshamanism). By contrast, the naturalistic tradition viewed mental illness as a phenomenon that could be scientifically studied and treated. Treatment consisted of measures to promote bodily well-being and mental tranquillity. Psychotherapy of nonhospitalized patients in the naturalistic tradition was not distinguishable from ordinary medical practice until the latter half of the 19th century. In the late 18th century, however, a dramatic demonstration by Austrian physician Franz Anton Mesmer showed that many symptoms could be made to disappear by putting a patient into a trance. Mesmerism was the precursor of hypnotism, a widely used psychotherapeutic method (seehypnosis) that arose from the research of Jean-Martin Charcot. (See alsoPierre Janet.) Using hypnotism, Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud together made the epochal observations on the relationship to later mental illness of emotionally charged, damaging experiences in childhood. From these discoveries grew the theory and practice of the first modern “talking cure,” psychoanalysis, which, with its many modifications, influenced the subsequent development of psychotherapy.

Humanistic, psychoanalytic, cognitive, and interpersonal therapies contribute to general personality growth and problem-resolution skills by helping people gain insight into their feelings and behaviour. To facilitate this development, psychotherapists try to create a therapeutic situation that will enable patients to express themselves with complete freedom while the therapist maintains a consistent, nonjudgmental interest. This approach is meant to help patients discover aspects of their personalities that have been pushed out of awareness. It also causes the individual to experiment with more adaptive ways of thinking and behaving.

Humanistic schools of psychotherapy hold that the empathy, warmth, and consistent “unconditional positive regard” of the therapist for the patient are sufficient to produce important changes. Therapies in the psychoanalytic tradition take a somewhat different approach: while placing similar emphasis on the importance of the therapeutic relationship, psychoanalytic therapies also focus on the analysis of feelings as a means of helping patients understand the emotions they experience. The therapies differ in their concepts and in the relative emphasis placed on the patient’s various symptoms, actions, experiences, or feelings.

Traditional psychoanalysis emphasizes the use of dreams as shortcuts to the patient’s unconscious experience. This approach also puts great attention on helping the patient to rediscover, reexperience, and “work through” any traumatic emotional experiences of early life that are thought to contribute to difficulties in later years. Subsequent modifications of psychoanalysis put greater emphasis on analysis of the patient’s current problems, while others emphasize helping the patient to gain a better philosophy of life. All schools agree that a prolonged relation with the therapist can cause the patient to experience feelings toward the therapist that resemble those which trouble the patient’s relationships with other persons. Because both therapist and patient can observe these transference reactions, as Freud termed them, the exploration of their inappropriateness is deemed a powerful means of resolving them.

Cognitive therapies focus almost exclusively on maladaptive modes of thinking underlying the patient’s symptomatology. A cognitive approach known as rational emotive behaviour therapy, developed by American psychologist Albert Ellis, aims to help the patient overcome irrational beliefs and unrealistic expectations. In Ellis’s cognitive approach, patients are taught to eliminate self-defeating thoughts while focusing on those that are beneficial and self-accepting.

Interpersonal therapies draw upon a broader context, in that they help patients view their symptoms in terms of their social and communicational implications. Successful interpersonal approaches are meant to replace symptomatic interpersonal styles with more adaptive ones.

In group psychotherapy the therapist works with a small number of patients—often no more than 5 or 10—to help resolve individual problems. Although a therapist may have a direct impact on the patients by using many of the methods of individual psychotherapy, the therapist’s primary role is far less direct in group therapy settings. Most importantly, the therapist must create an environment in which members can interact openly and confidently with one another by freely disclosing problematic experiences and exchanging feedback. The group interaction itself—not the therapist’s intervention—is thus the medium of treatment. Cohesion of the group is essential. Other important factors contributing to the effectiveness of group psychotherapy include mutual emotional support, interpersonal learning through confrontation and feedback, a safe climate for experimenting with new behaviours, and the realization that one is not alone in one’s difficulties. While group therapy is used to treat a wide range of psychological problems, it has been especially prevalent in treating addictions and problems characterized by social-skills deficits. Recovery groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous share some of the therapeutic features of group psychotherapy but differ from it in that they lack a therapist.

There is no convincing evidence that the results of one form of treatment are better than any other. Despite differences in emphasis, most schools of psychotherapy share many similarities in their methods of conceptualizing problems and in the therapeutic factors they provide for the patient. For example, most schools emphasize the importance of the therapeutic relationship, an intensive analysis of problem situations, and beneficial alterations in the patient’s thoughts and behaviour.

Chances of successful treatment generally correspond to the degree of the patient’s involvement in the treatment process. This is influenced not only by the intensity of a patient’s distress but also by the level of confidence a patient has in the therapist and the treatment method. Expectations of help are enhanced by the therapist’s ability to convince patients that he or she understands them intimately and is dedicated to their welfare. Personal qualities of the therapist are considered important to the development of a successful therapeutic relationship. See alsobehaviour therapy; nondirective psychotherapy; group therapy.